The Number 14

As many of you know, #14 is undoubtedly the greatest jersey number of all time. In honor of its greatness, I give you, the 14 greatest athletes to ever wear the #14.

14. A.J. Foyt – I really don’t know anything about racing cars, but apparently this guy pisses excellence. He is the only driver to win the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Whatever that means.

13. Y.A. Tittle – A two-time league MVP as a QB in the NFL, Tittle was inducted into the NFL Hall of Fame in 1971. He also earns the honor as having the best name of anyone to wear the #14. I mean his first name is Yelberton – awesome.

12. Don Hutson – Hutson is credited as being a major part in the creation of the forward pass while playing WR for the Packers. A rare Hutson #14 jersey turned up recently, valued at over $17,000. That’s $16,995 more than a Packers Brett Favre jersey is worth.

11. Thierry Henry – Again, I don’t know much about soccer, but this French dude apparently can ball. For anyone who doesn’t know who he is, think Gillette commercials. He’s the other guy with Tiger Woods and Roger Federer.

10. Vinny Testaverde – He wore the famed #14 while playing QB for the Miami Hurricanes. Vinny had some success while playing for 47 different teams during his 31 year NFL career. He is better remembered for his time as a Cleveland Brown, where his color blindness led to the nickname Vinny Interceptaverde.

9. Dan Fouts – A Hall of Fame QB as a member of the San Diego Chargers, Fouts is one of only a handful of QB’s with back to back 30 TD seasons. He also holds the title for best facial hair of anyone to wear #14.

8. Bob Cousy – 13-time NBA All-Star while playing point guard for the Boston Celtics, Cousy is a member of the NBA’s 50th anniversary team, made up of the 50 greatest players in NBA history.

7. Otto Graham – One of the greatest Cleveland Browns of all time, Graham was a 5-time Pro-Bowl selection as well as a 10-time All-Pro selection. On top of being an unbelievable quarterback, Graham also won a NBA championship as a member of the Rochester Royals. Bo Jackson couldn’t hold this dude’s jockstrap.

6. Ernie Banks – Mr. Cub is an 11-time MLB all-star famous for saying, “Let’s Play Two”. He won the NL MVP awards in back-to-back seasons and is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all-time.

5. Oscar Robertson – “The Big O” averaged a freaking triple-double for an entire season. He was so good, his nickname was stolen to describe an orgasm. I really don’t need to say anything else.

4. Ty Detmer – Why is Ty Detmer so high on this list? Detmer wore the #14 while dominating college football for BYU, where he threw for over 5,100 yards and 41 touchdowns on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy during the 1990 season. But he is number 4 on the list because he is a major part of one of my favorite sports quotes of all time. On September 23, 2001, Detmer was the starting quarterback for the Detroit Lions as they traveled to Cleveland to take on the Browns. Detmer threw 7 interceptions in the game which led to Crazy Carl screaming “We got the record!” over and over again from the top of Cleveland Browns Stadium. It doesn’t get any better than that.

3. Pete Rose – So the guy liked to gamble a little bit. Big deal. He is baseballs all-time leader in hits, outs, games played, at bats and was all around awesome.

2. Trevis Kurz – The guy was a pitchers nightmare, with a bat like Jack Parkman. Unfortunately for him, he played in the same era as the guy at #1 on this list.

1. Mike Zampini – What can you say about this guy. He was a dominating C/1B on the baseball diamond, a feared RB/LB on the gridiron and one of the greatest golfers of his time. His athletic skills as a three sport star were unmatched. During gamedays at Ohio State, thousands of fans can be seen wearing the infamous #14 Zampini jersey.